diff --git a/builtin/difftool.c b/builtin/difftool.c
index d9b76226f6..1f9d4324df 100644
--- a/builtin/difftool.c
+++ b/builtin/difftool.c
@@ -361,7 +361,7 @@ static int run_dir_diff(const char *extcmd, int symlinks, const char *prefix,
 	struct hashmap symlinks2 = HASHMAP_INIT(pair_cmp, NULL);
 	struct hashmap_iter iter;
 	struct pair_entry *entry;
-	struct index_state wtindex;
+	struct index_state wtindex = { 0 };
 	struct checkout lstate, rstate;
 	int err = 0;
 	struct child_process cmd = CHILD_PROCESS_INIT;
@@ -387,8 +387,6 @@ static int run_dir_diff(const char *extcmd, int symlinks, const char *prefix,
 	mkdir(ldir.buf, 0700);
 	mkdir(rdir.buf, 0700);
 
-	memset(&wtindex, 0, sizeof(wtindex));
-
 	memset(&lstate, 0, sizeof(lstate));
 	lstate.base_dir = lbase_dir = xstrdup(ldir.buf);
 	lstate.base_dir_len = ldir.len;